Session 3: Share Your Faith

Pre-reading

Read this before your meet-up. It will give you some great background information to help make the most of your time together.

Often when we hear or read about evangelism, we’re overwhelmed with guilt: it’s something that we all know we should do, but we so often fall short.

While God has commanded us to share our faith with people that don’t know Christ and our failure to obey that command is sin, guilt is rarely the best motivator for sustained life change. Instead, we should aim to see that the privilege of evangelism is a much greater reward than the worldly comforts that hold us back.

Evangelism is a privilege for two very important reasons: it expresses love for God and love for others, which Jesus said are the two greatest commands (see Matthew 22:36–40). Evangelism expresses love for God because it is him that we speak of in evangelism. In evangelism, our message to non-Christians is not the value of community, the importance of Judeo-Christian values, or any other social, political, scientific, or cultural message. We are seeking to win souls, not arguments, so our message is, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). In evangelism, we get to tell people about the greatness of God. We get to tell people about his strength and holiness, displayed in creation (Romans 1:18–20).

In evangelism, we are speaking about God. And we speak about him like this because we love him.

Evangelism also expresses love for others, because we know that non-Christians are “separated from Christ… strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Because Jesus is the only path to salvation, anyone that doesn’t know him is stuck in sin, “condemned already” (John 3:18), and heading towards a just eternal torment.

In evangelism, we are offering a solution to the most urgent problem in someone’s life. And we share it with them because we love them.

While we can always approach strangers and share the hope of Christ, we must share Christ with people we know and interact with every day. What does it actually look like to live an evangelistic lifestyle? Here are seven steps:

Think About it. Think often about the call that God has placed on your life to share the hope of Christ.
Pray About it. Pray for yourself and for the lost. Ask for opportunities and boldness to share the Word (Colossians 4:3–4).
See Opportunities. Before you can seize opportunities for evangelism, you have to see them. Throughout your day, think about all of the non-Christians you have interacted with. What friends and coworkers did you talk to? Who helped you at a store or restaurant? How many people did you pass on the street? What neighbors did you smile and nod at? We all have a lot of opportunities to share Christ!
Start Any Conversation. Seriously. Any conversation. Tell someone hi and ask about their life. You can’t talk about Jesus with someone if you can’t talk to them at all. This is a hard step for some people.
Get into Spiritual Conversations. Use simple questions to ask about someone else’s faith or share about your own. (e.g., Are you religious? Did you grow up going to church? Is there any way I can pray for you? I gathered with my church this weekend.)
Share the Gospel. Tell the story about Jesus and what he did, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
Follow Up. Typically our friends will not come to Christ the first time we share with them. This requires perseverance. So if someone seems interested or even indifferent, ask them to meet up with you to read the Bible together. (Use the Know Jesus Bible study to guide your conversation).

(Credit to Johnathan Orr for conceptualizing these seven steps.)

We have the hope of Christ because someone shared it with us. And now we have the incredible privilege of sharing it with others.

Seeing the Kindness of God

The center of the Christian worldview is the kindness and mercy of God, which is seen supremely in the work of Christ (Exodus 34:6–7, 1 Corinthians 2:2), so every session will include a reminder of how this topic points us to God’s unfailing kindness.

When writing about the ministry that Christians have to “persuade others” (1 Corinthians 4:11), Paul wrote that “[we have] this ministry by the mercy of God” (4:1). God has involved us in the work of evangelism as a gift of his mercy. He doesn’t need us to accomplish his purposes or save his people, but he has chosen to involve us.

Reflection Questions

Answer these before your meet-up.

What fears have prevented you from sharing your faith in the past?
What specific promises of God from Scripture could help you overcome those fears? (If you can’t think of any, ask your disciple-maker during your meet-up. If you can think of any, then memorize them!)
Where in Scripture has God commanded you to share your faith?
Which of the seven steps has been the hardest for you to apply?
Who is one non-Christian that you can ask to read the Bible with you? (Or who are you currently reading with?)

Meet-Up Guide

review your action step

From your last meetup

Were you able to pray for God to increase your faith?
What opportunities did God bring you for exercising your increased faith?

review the pre-reading

Answer these questions

What fears have prevented you from sharing your faith in the past? (After sharing, encourage one another with specific promises from God’s Word)
How does our evangelism show our love for God and love for others?
How can 1 Corinthians 4:1 encourage you in evangelism?

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

study questions

Answer these questions in your meet-up

Read verses 14–15 again. How has Christ shown his love for us? How should we respond? How can these verses motivate us in evangelism?
Verse 18 says “All this is from God.” What is “this” referring to?
What does this passage say that God has given us? (See verse 18)
What is “reconciliation?” Who is being reconciled in this passage and what is our role in bringing this reconciliation about? (You may want to take time to underline the word “reconciliation” every time it appears in this passage.)
According to this passage, what has God done to “reconcile” us to himself?
Put verse 21 into your own words.

application questions

Answer these questions in your meet-up

In verse 15, Paul calls us to no longer live for [ourselves], but for Jesus. What are some ways that selfishness (living for ourselves) would stop us in evangelism?
Verse 20 calls us “ambassadors for Christ.” What is an ambassador? How could seeing yourself as an ambassador help you in evangelism?
Are there any parts of the gospel message that you want to understand more to better share your faith?
What are some tools for sharing the gospel with others? (e.g., The Three Circles)

Create an action step

Create one together

In the chart at the bottom of this page, write your name in the middle circle.
Think of five non-Christians that you know and put their names in the other circles, connected to your circle. Think about your neighbors, co-workers, family members, friends, etc.
Draw more lines and circles connected to those people — people that they know. You may not know names, but you can be general here (e.g., “Co-Workers” or “Girlfriend”)
Take a minute to marvel at the incredible things God can do. If you share with these people, so many more could hear the hope of Christ.
Choose one person on your map. Commit to pray for that person every day until our next meet-up and make a specific plan for sharing with them.

action step:

I will share my faith with _______(name)________ on ________(day/time/place)________. I will start the conversation by _______________________. I will end the conversation by inviting them to do the Know Jesus Bible study with me.

Pray together

Pray together to close the meeting

Pray for the people that you’ve committed to share with, that God would save them by his grace.